Christ Church Cathedral Dean: Culture of Violence Needs to Be Addressed

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A homeless man was stabbed to death outside the central library in downtown St. Louis yesterday morning after an altercation.

Investigators say 41-year-old Jeronnia Graves was walking with his girlfriend when her ex-boyfriend approached them.

The woman and the suspect began arguing, Graves intervened, and was stabbed in the throat.

Police know who the suspect is, but they haven’t found him yet.

Investigators say all three are homeless.

Almost 12 years ago, the secretary of Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral, which sits across the street from this latest stabbing, was also stabbed to death by a homeless man.

“There are very real issues of poverty, of homeless, of mental illness and of violence—we have a culture of violence that affects our lives and that has to be addressed,” Cathedral Dean Michael Kinman says.

In the time since that incident, the neighborhood has changed a great deal, Dean Kinman says.

“Central Library is an icon of that in its transformation,” he says. “KMOX joining the neighborhood has been a great addition. But this is a reminder to us that we are in a neighborhood that is at once, still wonderful and vital, but also troubled, as is every urban core in the United States.”

Dean Kinman says he hopes this latest tragedy will deepen their commitment to be a catalyst for transformation in the neighborhood, the city and the entire St. Louis region.